Australia has an abundance of natural resources that could be transformed into high value carbon products, creating the basis for a new generation of high-tech ‘green’ processing industries. Australia’s largest solid carbon resources are its deposits of bituminous coal and lignite, which have historically provided cheap, reliable electricity and important export revenue. For the sake of the environment, it is necessary to wind back the way we currently use our lignite. The economic cost of this can be mitigated by developing smarter, carbon-neutral new industries that produce higher value products from smaller quantities of lignite.

Australia is also rich in other carbon-rich wastes that are currently afforded little value but could be upgraded to high value products. These include biomass wastes, papermaking waste lignin, used car tyres, waste plastics, power station fly ash, and captured carbon dioxide emissions. 

The technologies needed to upgrade these resources include primary processes such as gasification, pyrolysis, extraction and CO₂ capture and recycling, and additive processes such as polymerisation, 3D printing, laser etching and fibre spinning. These technologies can be further supplemented with emerging developments in renewable energy and hydrogen.

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THE NEED TO INNOVATE

 

Global economic growth with a smaller carbon footprint requires investment in innovation across a broad range of sectors, including agriculture, construction, fuels and chemicals, polymers, transport, hydrogen production and utilisation, food processing, renewable energy and CO₂ recycle. Development of these opportunities will require major investment over a long period of time, and active management from research concept to market appraisal. 

The ACI team has a proven record of success in the strategic portfolio management of lignite R&D, drawing upon guidance from independent experts.  ACI is actively managing the development of new high-tech manufacturing technologies for the carbon products of the future.

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However there are a number of significant technical, economic and social challenges to achieving this goal.

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• The skills base required to support the creation of new low-emission carbon-based products and processes is not well developed in Australia. Skills capacity is a major issue for current and future carbon-based industries throughout the world.

• Private sector capacity and capability, including cash availability for R&D, is generally limited in Australia.

• Some sectors of the public are opposed on any research on new uses for bituminous coal and lignite. Other potential carbon resources are currently regarded as waste products with little value. Securing funding for such research can be a challenge. 

• Development of low-emissions carbon technologies is dependent on the availability of some form of CO2 capture and storage. In Victoria, the CarbonNet and HESC projects are paving the way for large scale production of hydrogen from lignite, with captured CO2 transported by pipeline for geological storage. These developments will catalyse the development of low emissions industries in the Latrobe Valley, but are not expected until the late 2020s. However, this provides sufficient time for the development of complementary new carbon-based products and processes. 

 

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ACI INNOVATION OBJECTIVES

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ACI is addressing the challenges and opportunities of securing a sustainable future for low-emissions carbon products by facilitating shared research and development activity between industry, research and government stakeholders, nationally and throughout the world. Strategic management of investment in R&D underpins ACI's innovation support and operational activities.

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• Advance and accelerate innovative technologies in Australia by supporting focused, collaborative research in high priority technologies.

• Retain local expertise in, and attract international expertise to, Australia in low-emissions carbon product technologies.

• Support growth in skills and capacity in Australian carbon-related technologies for the domestic and international markets.

• Make research results available (respecting intellectual property protection) to ACI’s funders and to the Australian public.

 

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POTENTIAL FOR LOW-EMISSION PRODUCTS FROM LIGNITE

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Lignite is an example of an undervalued carbon resource that has the potential to be upgraded to a wide range of carbon-based products. Historically, Victoria’s power industry has been based on the inefficient combustion of lignite containing two-thirds water, earning it public opprobrium as ‘dirty brown coal’. However, dried Victorian lignite is a very clean source of carbon, with an internationally low level of mineral impurities. The potential for upgrading Victorian lignite is further enhanced by the current development of CO₂ capture and storage infrastructure in the Latrobe Valley. In principle, there is no reason why the Latrobe Valley could not one day be home to an industrial complex of high-value, low-emissions carbon manufacturing industries.

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For example, dried lignite can be gasified to produce synthesis gas, or syngas, a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide. Syngas can be further reacted with water to produce more hydrogen and carbon dioxide, as will be done in the HESC Project. Alternatively, it can be converted to a range of commodity chemicals and monomers for the plastics industry. Dried lignite can also be converted to specialty carbon products, fuels and agricultural products.